Loos, Anita, A Girl Like I: typescript 1963 and undated

Transcription

1 Loos, Anita, A Girl Like I: typescript 1963 and undated Abstract: This prepublication typed manuscript of American screen writer and author Anita Loos's ( ) autobiography A Girl Like I (1966) bears typed and handwritten editorial markings. Some of the pencil notations are in Loos's hand.

2 Identification: MSS 667 Descriptive Summary Creator: Loos, Anita, Title: Inclusive Dates: Extent: Language: A Girl Like I: typescript 1963 and undated.33 linear feet (1 box) Materials entirely in English. Citation: Shelving Summary: Location: Administrative Information Source: Purchase, October MSS 667, Loos, Anita, A Girl Like I: typescript, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware. Box 1: Shelved in SPEC MSS manuscript boxes (1 inch) Special Collections, University of Delaware Library Newark, Delaware Phone: Fax: URL: Processing: Processed and encoded by Rachael Green, October Access Restrictions: Terms Governing Use and Reproduction: The collection is open for research. Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, University of Delaware Library MSS 667 Page 2

3 Biographical Note American screen writer and author Anita Loos ( ) was known for her screen writing credits in 1920s Hollywood, her 1925 novelgentlemen Prefer Blondes, and popularization of the flapper lifestyle. At the age of fifteen, Loos began writing film scripts for D. W. Griffith of the Biograph Company. By the time she was eighteen, she had sold over one hundred scripts. In collaboration with her second husband, director John Emerson, she continued her lucrative screen writing career as well as producing several Broadway plays and two non-fiction works: How to Write Photoplays (1920) and Breaking into the Movies (1921). She is best known, however, for her novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925). The book brought Loos international renown, who, as one of the first women to bob her hair and shorten her hemlines, came to epitomize the flappers of the 1920s. The novel inspired a play, several musical versions, a sequel, and a 1953 film starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe. Loos continued to write scripts, produce, and work in Broadway after the novel, and she published several memoirs about life in Hollywood. Sources: Carey, Gary. Anita Loos. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Mainiero, Lina, ed. American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from the Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Elaine Fredericksen. "Loos, Anita." American National Biography Online. Feb (accessed October 7, 2013). Page 3 University of Delaware Library MSS 667

4 Scope and Content Note This prepublication typed manuscript of American screen writer and author Anita Loos's ( ) autobiography A Girl Like I (1966) bears typed and handwritten editorial markings. Some of the pencil notations are in Loos's hand. A Girl Like I documented Loos's life as a screen writer and a socialite, as well as the relationships between prominent American writers and actors of the 1920s. Loos wrote in detail about the difficulties she faced as a woman writer and producer in Hollywood. The typescript makes mention of many famous actors, writers, and socialites who surrounded Loos in Hollywood, New York, and Europe. Her relationship with her second husband John Emerson is discussed at length, as well as her many friendships, most notably with American actresses Constance Talmadge ( ) and Norma Talmadge ( ), American actor Douglas Fairbanks ( ), and American author H. L. Mencken ( ). Her and Emerson's work with the United Artists Corporation and Actors' Equity Association is discussed as well. A Girl Like I is typed on onionskin paper and bears extensive emendations and revisions in type, ink, and pencil, some of the latter marks being in Loos's hand. The first chapter is dated August 28, 1963, but no other dates are included. Also included is an autographed card inscribed by Loos "To Jack." University of Delaware Library MSS 667 Page 4

5 Selected Search Terms Personal Names Loos, Anita, Emerson, John, Talmadge, Constance, Talmadge, Norma, Fairbanks, Douglas, Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), Corporate Names United Artists Corporation. Actors' Equity Association. Topical Terms Autobiography--Women authors. Authors, American--20th century--biography. Screenwriters--United States--Biography. Motion picture industry--united States--History--20th century. Form/Genre Terms Autobiographies. Typescripts. Occupation Screen writers. Authors. Related Materials in this Repository MSS 099, F531, Anita Loos letters to Ray Pierre Corsini Page 5 University of Delaware Library MSS 667

6 Materials Cataloged Separately A published copy of A Girl Like I signed by Loos has been removed and cataloged with imprints in Special Collections. University of Delaware Library MSS 667 Page 6

7 Detailed Description of the Collection A Girl Like I typescript chapters 1-3, 1963 and undated [Box 1 F1] Also included is an autographed card inscribed by Loos "To Jack." A Girl Like I typescript chapters 4-6, undated [Box 1 F2] A Girl Like I typescript chapters 7-[10], undated [Box 1 F3] Chapter 10 is not labeled. A Girl Like I typescript chapters 11-12, undated [Box 1 F4] Page 7 University of Delaware Library MSS 667